Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said that it has seen "nothing alarming" in the publication of a transcript of a call between Steve Vitkoff and aides to Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin and has suggested that the possible dismissal of the US president's special envoy could disrupt peace talks.

Source: RIA Novosti, a Kremlin-aligned Russian news agency

Details: Peskov told Russian Kremlin-aligned media that there is "first of all nothing terrible" in the transcript of a conversation between special envoy Steve Vitkoff and Putin's aides that had been earlier released by Bloomberg.

He added that voices now calling for Vitkoff to be removed "are aimed above all at wrecking the still modest trend towards moving to a settlement through peace talks".

Background:

• Bloomberg has earlier published a transcript of a telephone conversation of the US President's Special Envoy Steve Witkoff with Russian leader Vladimir Putin's aide Yuri Ushakov, during which he offered advice on how Russia could better present its proposals for a "peace agreement" to Donald Trump.
• Another call between Yuri Ushakov and Kremlin special envoy Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, suggests that the so-called 28-point "peace plan" was drafted by Putin's aides and that Vitkoff was supposed to present it as his own work.
• On 25 November, US President Donald Trump said he had instructed special envoy Steve Witkoff and US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll to finalise the terms of the "peace deal" between Russia and Ukraine. Witkoff will travel to Moscow, and if the process reaches its final stage of preparation, Trump will meet with Putin and Zelenskyy.
• According to Trump, the biggest concession from Russia would be its agreement to stop hostilities and refrain from seizing new territory.
• The United States and Ukraine have differing views on three points of the "peace plan", including the idea that Ukraine should withdraw without a fight from the part of Donetsk Oblast not under Russian control.

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